By Ben St. Clair 
   -- Chinese economy slows 
 
   -- Global stocks mixed 
 
   -- Trade takes back seat in U.S. 

Global stocks were mixed Monday, with weak Chinese economic data kicking off a week heavy in corporate results.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.2% in morning trading, led by gains in the banking sector. Shares in Deutsche Bank were up 5.7% after the bank reported preliminary second-quarter results beating expectations.

Futures markets pointed to small opening gains for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, both of which finished the week up on Friday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat and South Korea's Kospi was down 0.4%. The Tokyo market was closed for a public holiday.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6% following its largest one-week percentage gain since June 2016.

On Monday, GDP data revealed a slowing Chinese economy in the second quarter, weighed down by government initiatives to rein in risky borrowing and lending. Growth edged down, in line with expectations, to 6.7% from a year ago, compared with 6.8% in the first quarter. The figures remain above the government's 6.5% target, but key statistics pointed to a slowing economy.

Growth in total social financing in June, a catchall term for lending by banks and other institutions, rose at its slowest pace in at least 15 years, while fixed-asset investment growth was at a two-decade low.

"The statistics bureau is now starting to more publicly acknowledge that the economy is losing steam," Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note Monday. "This should make it easier for officials to justify shifting to a more supportive policy stance."

Shanghai stocks have shed nearly 15% so far this year, and economists estimate trade conflicts could cut 0.2 to 0.5 percentage point off China's GDP in the coming year.

Meanwhile, investors in U.S. stocks appeared to have largely shrugged off trade concerns. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have gone up all but one day since the U.S. and China imposed tariffs on $34 billion of each other's goods starting on July 6. The S&P 500 is up 4.8% for the year.

"It's hard to pin something truly tangible to" recent stock market gains since many explanations have been true for months, said Simon Derrick chief currency strategist at BNY Mellon. "You can try to create a narrative around it, but it hasn't always worked out."

Investors appeared to be focused on strong U.S. economic data and expectations of positive earnings growth as companies report in the coming days. Blackrock and Bank of America report second-quarter earnings before U.S. markets open Monday.

The U.S. dollar inched down Monday, with the WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the currency against a basket of 16 others, down 0.1%.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged up to 2.835% after closing the week at 2.831%.

Chao Deng, Mike Bird, Akane Otani and Ben Eisen contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2018 05:27 ET (09:27 GMT)

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